NLCTigerFan07

I do not necessarily have "first-hand" knowledge, but from my observations, Michael Curtis (Bart's son) is an excellent assistant coach for the Tigers. He has a great relationship with the kids and him being at Warsaw is part of what I believe pulled Bart to apply for the position when it came open. This is truly my own opinion, but it would not surprise me if/when Bart decides to retire, the reigns get moved to Michael if he wants it. Or he could very well get a head coaching position outside of Warsaw if the right opportunity presents itself, but again just from my observations, I would expect Michael to stick around Lake City for awhile.

And unfortunately - I do not engage on Facebook much anymore these days. I'll keep my fingers crossed you continue to show up here! Best of luck on Facebook.

Sure, but I believe if you cannot measure "taller" than your local peers consistently, what is the point of trying to measure against statewide peers? Warsaw is getting there on the NLC front, going 22-6 in conference play during Coach Bart's 4 seasons, as good of a 4 year stretch in conference play outside of '99-'02 when they went 23-3. So after 4 seasons of measuring themselves against local peers, they have also taken the addiitonal step up in non-conference play during Coach Bart's tenure, adding Michigan City 3 years ago, Dublin Coffman last year, and now this upcoming year Chesterton. In future years, the Warren Central Warriors are on the docket, and very likely matchups against other top DAC and SAC teams coming soon. I truly do not believe any of theses additions would have happened in the Pre Bart era. Arguing that the Tigers need to move to the SAC to "measure itself against statewide peers" is a lazy point IMO. What the Tigers are doing in their non-conference schedule, along with facing quality conference opponents in Mishawaka, Concord, Northridge and NorthWood each year. Again, I won't argue that facing Carroll, Homestead, Snider and Dwenger over each of those 4 teams wouldn't be a "step up", but I truly do not believe it is THAT much of a step up. For every downtrodden NLC team there is (Wawasee, Goshen, Plymouth)... the SAC has just as well (South Side, Wayne, Concorida, North Side. Now IF the Tigers somehow start dominating their non-conference and NLC schedule over the next few years AND continue to fail advancing in the post-season tournament... I'll give the idea of a conference shift more merit. But at this time, it is just one of your many rehashed topics. Unlike others though, I have no issue continuing to converse with you over it.

If I am being complete honest and realistic here, your argument would have a stronger hold IF the Tigers were already the "tallest midget" in the NLC, yet consistently falling short in the state tournament. That is not the case. In the last 3 decades, Warsaw has 3 outright NLC football championships ('90, '00, '01) and 3 shared NLC football championships ('92, '99, '20). 6 conference championships over 30 years makes you far from the tallest midget. As well, their postseason history over that 30 year period only includes 9 Sectional Championship appearances (including last year's where they had the "luck" of a double-bye into the game) with only 1 Sectional title ('19). IF Warsaw was dominating the NLC year in and year out and consistently making it to a Regional or Semi-State level in the tournament, only to fall short, I would give your suggestion of the Tigers needing to make a conference change more credence. However, that is not the case currently. Adding regular games against Carroll, Homestead, Snider and Dwenger would be mildly more of an improvement over the current schedule. I do not believe it would truly add that much value. Last year's Sagarin ratings as comparison between those 4 teams and the top 4 NLC teams (excluding Warsaw) 84.43 - Carroll 71.18 - Homestead 69.09 - Snider 67.32 - Dwenger 73.01 - AVERAGE 78.38 - Mishawaka 72.38 - Concord 65.77 - Northridge 59.06 - NorthWood 68.90 - AVERAGE

I really wish you'd stop pushing this. You are the only one who consistently does. I understand your arguement as to why it could potentially make sense for the Tigers when it comes to "preparing" them for a 6A state wide contender in football, but conference affiliations affect all sports, not just football. The NLC is a great spot for all Tiger athletics.

Along with Carroll vs. Center Grove

Well considering Carmel and Center Grove are now both Independent... they have the freedom to rearrange their schedules however they see fit. Merrillville (and most other schools in the state) are likely very stuck when it comes to their non-conference availability. As was stated previously, the DAC has their conference games all lined up weeks 3-9, so if Center Grove was trying to play Merrillville during those weeks, yeah, no duh they couldn't rearrange their schedule.

Didn't even think about that... but certainly not something to be overlooked.

Bleachers is an excellent book. It is Fiction, but one of my all time favorites.

Chesterton, maybe. But Ben Davis? Why on earth would Concordia even consider playing the Giants? That is definitely a mismatch if I ever saw one outside of the state championship Cadet team.

In all fairness, who's to say Warren won't continue to play either of those teams in their "non-conference" schedule as well? They'll have 4 weeks of non-conference action, and if hypothetically the Warriors 4 non-conference opponents were Center Grove, Carmel, Homestead and Snider? That would be a pretty solid non-conference line up for just about anyone in the state.

I saw that on Twitter - awesome opportunity for him. Selfishly (as a former small college player and coach) I would love to see him go to a NAIA or D2 level school. I think he could be an absolute STUD for any of those schools, but also would be hard pressed to turn down playing for the Golden Domers in your backyards while getting that ND education (he's a phenomenal student from per all accounts).

Then in 2024 and 2025, Warren Central plays Warsaw and Carroll their first two weeks. Also hearing potential rumors for a "big cat" out of confernece matchup in future years as well but nothing confirmed yet. I am sure plenty of discussions going on between a number of teams.

In the NLC, 5A schools Mishawaka and Concord do not have field turf.

This is an interesting question that I do not believe will ever happen, but IF Warsaw was not in the NLC, of all schools in the area I think Jimtown would be a good fit. They already play NorthWood and Concord in football and are competitive against both and typically play against Goshen in quite a few sports. Plymouth and Wawasee are not THAT much bigger than Jimtown either, so I see no reason why they couldn't fit right into the NLC on the absolutely hypothetical scenario of Warsaw leaving the conference.

1) It is not "Lake Life" - the lakes have always been here. There's not been some drastic change concerning that. This is grasping at straws. What lake is in Plymouth and Goshen pulling kids away from participating in football? 2) Warsaw will not be lured to Fort Wayne to join the SAC. You are the only one who ever brings this up. Across all athletics, the Tigers fit in well in the NLC and are more than prepared for any tournament runs in their respective sports. Football is the only one that would even remotely benefit, and that is not reason enough to move your entire athletics department to a new conference

If you think the Mishawaka joined the NLC for football only...

I guess to further clarify for every class, it isn't set at a firm enrollment number. Here's a simple example of 6 teams divided into 3 classes, based on the fact that there needs to be 2 teams in each class. Team A - 100 kids Team B - 80 kids _________________ Team C - 79 kids Team D - 70 kids _________________ Team E - 60 kids Team F - 35 kids Even though there is a difference of 1 kid between Team B and Team C, Team B is in the higher class becaus there needs to be 2 teams per class/division. In the IHSAA, it's roughly divided as such: Lets say there were 324 schools that play high school football in Indiana 32 Largest Schools - Class 6A Then they work from the bottom up. 64 Smallest Schools - Class 1A Next 64 Smallest to Largest Schools - Class 2A Next 64 Smallest to Largest Schools - Class 3A Next 64 Smallest to Largest Schools - Class 4A That leaves 36 remaining schools, and they get placed in Class 5A

Well every class will have a line drawn where X number of schools go into each class. In this example, it seems Seeger is above that line and Parke Heritage is below that line.

Thank you for the context/commentary @HHF

I am legitimately asking this since I am not all that familiar with the area... "White flight" from a school district that's one of the smallest in size geographically? Where are they moving? Literally just a few blocks over to Lake Central or Highland?

If this has been expected for a little while now (enough so to move to a smaller conference) - what are the driving forces here? I realize Griffith is kind of landlocked surrounded by Merrillville, Munster, Highland and the Hammond schools, but at the same time, to me that would mean their enrollment would stay rather consistent?

You're joking right? There's no reason why the IHSAA would put Ben Dvais in Sectional 8 and move Center Grove to Sectoinal 6 unless I'm completely missing something here. Sorry if I am.

I would switch Carroll and Homestead in this scenario. Carroll is more NE of Fort Wayne and could hope on US 33 to Elkhart faster, and Homestead is closer to I-69 to head south.